The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia yesterday handed down its decision on an appeal by ANZ Bank against a decision that its late payment fees are unlawful. The bank is the subject of a class action commenced against it by its customers.

The Court overturned an earlier Federal Court finding that ANZ’s late payment fees were unlawful.Steven Lewis from ACA Lawyers said, “We are still analysing the lengthy judgment. The lawyers acting for ANZ customers in the class action against ANZ Bank have already said that they are likely to appeal this decision, and we will be monitoring the situation closely.”

ACA Lawyers is currently investigating class actions against Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, GE and HSBC to recover late payment fees for customers of these companies.

“At this stage our intention is to fight on to not only recover late fees for customers of telco and credit card companies, but to help put an end to all excessive late fees charged to Australian consumers”, Mr Lewis said. “Service providers and credit card companies have made it clear they will not let go of their late fee revenue without a fight, and these late fee class actions are a way for people to tell big business that enough is enough.” Those wishing to participate in any of the proposed class actions against Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, GE Capital Finance and HSBC Bank class actions should register at www.acaclassactions.com.au.